Naomi rescued from stampede

Naomi causes a stir - this time on the catwalk in Sao Paulo. Photo: AFP

Italian police had to be rushed in to the rescue when a beach crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 men swarmed to catch a glimpse of Naomi Campbell in a bikini yesterday.

The sight of the celebrity model shooting an ad on a beach near Cagliari in Sardinia - Cala Cipolla - in a skimpy swimsuit caused a near stampede, the Italian news agency Ansa said.

Security guards employed during the publicity shoot for Italy's TIM cellphone operators called police for help in keeping the crowd behind metal barriers.

Campbell, said to be currently involved with US actor Adrien Brody, who won an Oscar for Roman Polanski's The Pianist, features in the publicity campaign flanked by an enormous black dog, wearing the phone in her bikini.